Having trouble connecting to WiFi until I restart the router.

[Macotron5000]

I have a 2011 13" MacBook Pro. I bought it new and it has been absolutely fantastic these last 7 years and still going strong.

However, ever since getting a new router my computer has been having trouble connecting to the WiFi. It will connect perfectly fine and very quickly for 3 or 4 days then start to take a long while to connect, then stop connecting all together, often asking for the password again and telling me the password is incorrect. As soon as I restart the router the computer will start connecting to it just fine for the next 3 or 4 days.

I have tried reinstalling the operating system, but that made no difference.

All other devices connect to the router with no problems including my wife's 2013 MacBook Air.

My mac hasn't had any problems connecting to any other router it's come across.

I contacted my internet service provider and they seemed adamant the problem was with my computer.

Has anyone else had a similar issue? Are there things I can do to help debug the problem?

 

[adrianlondon]

I had something similar. Are you trying to connect to a 5GHz network? In my case, the router was picking a channel that the laptop refused to connect to, because someone nearby had a router from China that was broadcasting "Country Code: CN". As my router doesn't broadcast a country code, this somehow told my Macbook to discount certain channels when trying to connect to a wifi network.

They've moved out now, so the problem has gone, but in the meantime I set my router to a fixed channel. I picked 40. That's valid in China. Such a random problem, admittedly, but the symptoms match yours and it'll save you days of research!

https://www.howtogeek.com/211993/how-to-fix-conflicting-country-codes-and-improve-your-macs-wi-fi/

 

[Macotron5000]

I had something similar. Are you trying to connect to a 5GHz network? In my case, the router was picking a channel that the laptop refused to connect to, because someone nearby had a router from China that was broadcasting "Country Code: CN". As my router doesn't broadcast a country code, this somehow told my Macbook to discount certain channels when trying to connect to a wifi network.

They've moved out now, so the problem has gone, but in the meantime I set my router to a fixed channel. I picked 40. That's valid in China. Such a random problem, admittedly, but the symptoms match yours and it'll save you days of research!

https://www.howtogeek.com/211993/how-to-fix-conflicting-country-codes-and-improve-your-macs-wi-fi/

Thank you for the advice.
I checked with the Wireless Diagnostics and it didn't say there were any conflicting country codes.
I'll run the diagnostics again in a few days when the connection starts to fail.
It does say "LAN connectivity failure" which is odd as it seems to be connecting just fine.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Is your router a standalone device, or is it an "internet gateway"?
(i.e., a "combined" modem/router)

Regardless of what the IP says, it might be something within the router settings.
Do you have a way to check them?